One of the central paradoxes of textbook authorship in Indigenous languages is that some of those for whom the textbooks are intended find it challenging to read them. Here, through examining cases of Quechua across the Andes in Peru and in Ecuador, we consider the role of orthography in this paradox. Textbook authors must decide on an alphabet…

This article provides a descriptive account of the workings of an Indigenous-led teacher training initiative in the Peruvian Amazon (Formabiap) and considers the extent of its transdisciplinary pedagogic approach, with a special focus on the ontological and epistemological stakes of intercultural knowledge exchanges in the context of contemporary…

Yupana Inca Tawa Pukllay (YITP) is a ludic didactic resource based on semiotic alternation that, using the reading of numbers in the Inca numeral system, improves its equivalent Indo-Arabic reading. Twelve children from first to fourth grade of a bilingual (Spanish-Quechua), multi-grade elementary school in a small rural Peruvian community were…

For decades social researchers have explored indigenous knowledges and practices, yet decisive input by Quechuan peoples in the research process has remained minimal, nearly non-existent. This non-participatory approach to research about Quechuan peoples, cultures, and languages has reproduced asymmetric relationships between subject and expert,…

Based on need for intercultural approach to cultural and linguistic diversity in primary school students, this article shows racist attitudes and discrimination against rural, Andean and Quechua context in culturally different social groups. This situation raises the following question: how do the intercultural competences of primary school…

This paper examines teachers' implementation of a bilingual intercultural education (BIE) program in Peru. This program is inspired by global policies that promote cultural pluralism and educational access to marginalized indigenous populations. Broadly addressed in policy in Andean countries, interculturalism in Peru has remained a core…